Flex your MENTAL muscle!

So many times when people begin to eat healthy and really try to change their eating habits, they get to a point where their body complains, "If you don’t want to feed me what I want (carbs) then I don’t want to eat at all!"

This is where your cerebral fitness,, not just your physical fitness, is put to the test!

Right now, your mental muscle is what needs developing and strengthening. You are going to have to do this eventually - now is the time to do it!! Your body has gone through years of being fed carbs - it knows if it "calls" and says it needs carbs, you will "answer" it if it tries hard enough. You have to break this cycle. Is it easy? No. Not at all. Is it doable? Yes. But it takes some work.

First, change how you talk to yourself and others about food. Challenge your thinking. So much can be changed in just the way we speak to ourselves. Instead of saying, "Oh I am sooo craving bread/pasta/choclate right now" change that thinking to "Oh, I am so glad I choose to fuel my body with these amazing healthy foods! I will feel so good when I eat this!" Seriously. I want you to say this out loud to yourself and to someone in the immediate vicinity (preferably to someone you know and love or mocking may ensue!) Is it goofy? Of course it is. Does it work? You'd be surprised. This really isn't some mental mumbo jumbo. If you say something enough, out loud, you are going to start to believe it yourself.

Second, you are stronger than you think you are! Often times we see ourselves as powerless, that we "have no control" over want our body "wants." Right now, you need to shut your body up and let it know who's boss! Because, really? It's not your body talking. It's your brain. It's that emotional part that has always eaten and loved carbs and the feeling it gets when it eats them. For me, it's that little 4th-grade Ashli that got teased for being bigger than the other kids. It's the middle school Ashli that hid out in her closet to eat Reeses peanut butter cups when that jerk in ninth grade routinely called her "ThunderThighs." That's how I used to comfort myself - with those carb/sugar heavy foods. I was convinced I was "big-boned" and could never lose weight. But when I finally, FINALLY began to let myself believe and hope I could...those Reese's didn't look that satisfying anymore!

Refined carbohydrates have been shown to act in the same way as illicit drugs do - essentially by taking similar metabolic pathways. Your brain actually produces chemicals, like tryptophan and dopamine, that give you a "feel-good" high. This feeling is fleeting but your brain wants to convince you that it needs it! Right now, your brain needs a makeover! When we listen to our bodies, and I mean really listen, we find out that they are quite self-regulating. If we can get past the "I need carbs right now or I'm going to bite my spouse's head off" (not literally), we begin to sense what nutrients our body needs and we can begin to satisfy those. The hardest part is getting through that initial withdrawal phase.

You control EVERYTHING you put in your body. You are as strong as you let yourself be. If your body (brain) says, "Don't feed me unless it's carbs!!" You say, "Well, that's too darn bad - I have goals and will reach them - with or without you (preferably with you :)"

You can do this, but it is all up to you. You are responsible for how you respond when the cravings act up, when you are feeling tired, when things don't go right, or your spouse wants take-out. You make those choices that affect you every day. You have the responsibility to own up to them and accept them and to help you hit your goals!

Your body knows you can do this - it manifests this everytime you flex your mental muscle and make positive changes. YOU (and your brain) just need to realize this too!!

Does the scale matter?

I've been hearing lately from a lot of different sources, that people should just throw out the scales - scales are evil, they lie, they are the enemy, etc. I'm going to have to be a dissenting opinion here...Does the scale matter?

Yes, the scale does matter! To a certain extent. (Before you tar and feather me...hear me out!)

Should the scale be our only tool of measurement? No way. Can it help measure our progress? Absolutely. The scale does only tell a portion of the story, however. When you combine it with body fat testing by a fitness professional, how your clothes fit, and circumference measurements with a tape measure, you begin to see the whole story...

Say after two weeks the number on the scale stays the same, but your body fat goes down and your clothes are looser. You can pretty much assume you gained a little muscle and lost some fat. Great job. But say after a few more weeks the scale is still the same (and assuming your clothes still fit relatively the same,) I'm sorry but something is not right. Especially if you have a lot of weight to lose. It's wishful thinking to say, "Oh - I must have gained 12 lbs of muscle and 12 lbs of fat." (A pound of muscle and a pound of fat weigh the same (a pound - surprise) but muscle is more dense than fat and thus takes up less space. So if this were the case your clothes would still be fitting looser.) The scale does need to be moving!! (and the inches need to be going down, the body fat needs to be going down...etc.

From the Hussman fitness website: "Think of it this way. A woman doing relatively well on her fitness program might be losing over 1 pound of fat a week, while gaining a fraction of a pound of muscle. So while she might be on track to lose 12-15 pounds of fat and gain a few pounds of lean muscle over 12 weeks, by the 5th week she might be looking at a scale change of less than 4 pounds. And since that's about the weight of a meal and a couple of glasses of water, she may not even see the scale move at all. This is especially true at high bodyfat levels, where shifts in water retention over a monthly cycle can be quite large. But gradually, the changes are happening anyway, as long as she doesn't give up. For women at high bodyfat levels, progress may not show for weeks at a time. The reason is that your readings will zig-zag within their downward path. If you measure from a peak in weight to a recent trough, you'll be elated at the "jump" in your progress. But other times you'll get a trough-to-peak reading and be totally frustrated. Don't extrapolate either of these impressions. Chart your numbers and measure progress from peak-to-peak or trough-to-trough." (hussmanfitness.org)

But it still needs to be gradually going down!

If it isn't, at this point (and probably a lot sooner,) a reality check is in order. How are your portions sizes? Are you measuring everything out honestly? Are you writing down all your food in your meal log? Are you eating every three hours? Are you getting enough water? Taking your supplements? Are you choosing those lean proteins and low-glycemic carbs? How intense are your workouts? Are you going to muscle failure or just going through the motions?

Really analyze your nutrition and the intensity of your workouts and you just might find that scale moving after all!

Take It Outside!

I don't know what's with this weather. It's like a pregnant woman - happy one minute, tumultuous the next!! But Saturday was absolutely glorious. I couldn't stand the thought of running inside on a treadmill when it was so bright and sunny and warm outside.

I knew I needed to get my workout in, so I opted for a change of venue!

I packed up my water and my golden retrievers and we drove up the canyon. It was SO MUCH FUN. We hiked/ran about 3 and half miles. I had to run just to keep up with my dogs (I have never seen two happier goldens ever!!) It was exactly your typical HIIT cardio, but a great workout nonetheless.

It was such a great renewal for me. I love treadmill running, but man, being in the fresh air, running on a trail, quads burning, and being able to look down at the beautiful Salt Lake Valley was perfect. It just renewed my love for working out and being in a position where I can hike and run and play in the mud with my dogs!!

So if have been feeling a little burned out, bored, or just need a change, switch it up! Try something new! Go rollerbladding, bike outside, take a hike - do whatever you need to do psych yourself up to continually live this lifestyle.

I think sometimes we get so focused on doing our THF workouts, we forget that we are allowed to do other stuff, too. In fact, I want to encourage my clients to BE ACTIVE!! Go play! Have fun! This is for LIFE! It totally translates into your workouts. It does for me, anyway...

(Oh, and by the way, I had a great run this morning.(Yes, on a treadmill!) And I'm pretty sure I have my hike to thank for it!!)